Chrysalis stared out the window that she had put in her room. It was one of the few openings in the hive. She knew that it was a slight hazard, but it was times like this that she needed some comfort from the open sky. She couldn't fly, but at the very least she could see it.
Chrysalis stared out at the sky, a dreamy look taking over her face. She remembered when she was a foal how she could fly freely among the clouds. She would even race some of the other changeling foals when she was young.
She remembered her falling in love with a young changeling. He was so kind. . . If only she could remember him the way she had fallen in love with him.
"Your highness?"
Chrysalis was snapped out of her daze.
"Yes, commander Mothball?" She asked, her voice slightly downcast.
"The princess says she refuses to leave until she has had an audience with you." Said the slender changeling as he opened the door wider so as to allow Chrysalis a way out.
Chrysalis let out a sigh. She had been hoping that Crystal would have already left. She didn't want to have to say goodbye. It always hurt to say goodbye.
But she knew it hurt more to not have a chance to do so.
"Very well," Chrysalis said as she used a spell to fill the window once again. She stared at the place where the opening had been, longing for the entire hive to have been free from hiding. But she had probably ruined any and all chances of that with that foolish Canterlot stunt.
Chrysalis was sure she could have succeeded, but she had rushed it too much. She was so rushed. She was determined to welcome her child into a world filled with love and a well-fed hive. But instead, she had exposed her kind and food was more scarce than ever.
Chrysalis turned to the commander and nodded, signaling him to lead her to the throne room. He gave a curt nod as he robotically guided the way.
Chrysalis followed, hoping that he would take the long route. If he took that one, they would be able to avoid the most populated parts of the hive. Chrysalis still felt ashamed for her irresponsible planning of trying to get Canterlot. She had just wanted to give her people enough love to be content. But instead, she had failed them.
Chrysalis felt a groan escape her lips as they took a turn. It was the turn that led them through the home district of the hive. She could only suck it up seeing as some of her subjects had already seen her coming their way.
'Just try to keep your composure,' Chrysalis thought to herself as she looked around, keeping a bored expression on her face and sending out the occasional wave to the children who waved at her. Every once in a while, she would have to fake a yawn, trying to mask her tears. Even the children were starving.
But they still loved her. They still waved. A few clapped their hooves. And children gave her looks of wonder. They would gather at the fringes of the street whispering amongst themselves, giggling as she passed, but not in a mocking way, just they way children did.
Chrysalis felt her eyes widen as an adolescent boy actually made his way onto the road and stopped in front of her. Her escort noticed this and was about to bark at the youth until she held up a hoof and silenced him. The crowd held their collective breath, especially his parent who had been trying to get him to come back before he got in trouble.
"Wewwo," He said as he looked up at her with big eyes. Chrysalis knelt down to get eye level with him. He giggled as he hugged his her nose, causing a gasp to come from the crowd. Chrysalis saw the mother faint out of the corner of her eye, causing a small smirk to form on her lips. Then Chrysalis did the unexpected she grabbed him off of her nose with her hooves.
The crowd held their breaths she brought her mouth to the poor child's stomach. The mother was crying at this point, but she didn't dare get close to the queen. Chrysalis's mouth finally made contact with his stomach, causing a hush to fall over the crowd. Then the sound of someone blowing a raspberry filled their ears.
They all looked up in shock, wanting to know who was so insane as to blow a raspberry at the Queen. When soft babyish giggles they all fixed their gazes on the queen who was. . . Playing with the baby? The mother cried with joy as she laid eyes on her healthy toddler.
Chrysalis laid him down on the ground after a minute more of playing with him. Chrysalis smiled as he toddled back to his mother who was waiting for him with open hooves. Chrysalis felt a tear roll down her cheek as she watched the mother hug her newborn, never letting him go.
Chrysalis hastily told the escort to move along, not wanting to stay around. The guard was confused but didn't dare question his queen. They quickly made their way to the main road to the throne room.
Chrysalis hadn't wanted to stay because she noticed the father hugging his baby, with no fear of never seeing him again.
"Oh, I can't do this!" Crystal cried as she kept pacing. She had arrived in the throne room mere moments ago, and she had been freaking out ever since. He wings were fluttering out of a nervous habit, speeding up whenever she got extremely anxious lifting her off the ground slightly.
"Suger, y'all gotta calm down," Insecta said as she came behind her and put a hoof around her shoulders. "She's your mother. Y'all just gotta talk to her all calm like and then after talkin' you go off on ya first adventure!"
"O-ok," Crystal said, still unsure of whether or not she was doing the right thing. She brought up a hoof to her mouth and started biting at it; another bad habit. "I'm still not sure, Innie. My stomach's in knots, I feel sweaty, and I think I'm gonna throw up!"
"Crystal," Insecta deadpanned. "That's called being nervous."
"I know, and I hate it!" Crystal cried out as she placed her head in her hooves and groaned only the way a teenager can groan. She wanted to flop on the ground and turn invisible. She wanted to just be a normal changeling with no princess expectations. Just to be normal. Heck, maybe even being a pony would be nice.
"Crystal," Insecta started, but then a terrified look overwhelmed her face as she suddenly stiffened up, her posture perfect. Crystal was confused, but she knew that that meant her mother had just entered the building.
Crystal slowly turned round, a fake smile glued to her face. She was outwardly calm, but inwardly dreading every second.
"Hi, mother," Crystal said robotically. Crystal couldn't help but feel nervous in the presence of her mother. She had to only blame her brothers and sisters' stories about her punishing lings before she had children. They said that she had become much more relaxed over the years.
Chrysalis entered the way she did on a daily basis. The entire room, with the exception of Crystal, would bow before her, she would address them to get back to work, they would hurry off to tend to their jobs, and then she would relax and give Crystal a hug.
This time, however, Crystal didn't want the hug. She just wanted to disappear. She stared at Chrysalis and saw something. Something in her eyes, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was dread.
"Mother," Crystal said as she pawed at the blackened dirt. 'Come on! Just get it out!' "Mother, I'm absolutely confident that I'm ready for this. But, I won't go unless you find me ready."
Chrysalis was shocked, and it clearly showed on her face. She had just expected her daughter to say goodbye and be on her way to making her own hive, as she did, never looking back. But here she was, showing a level of respect for her opinion that even some of her generals failed to show.
Chrysalis could feel her vision getting mistier as she curtly nodded, showing just how much she supported her daughter, who was also getting teared up. Chrysalis signalled two soldiers to step forth, apparently generals from their elaborate armor.
That was one of the things she envied about lower classes of changelings. They had armour the pronounce their status which could be easily removed to fit in with other changelings. That and the uniform just looked real bad donkey.
From the midnight blue portions to the beautiful grey details on the chest that were comparable to bramble thorns, it was simply incredible. Crystal, when she was even younger, had been there for every show of force against an imposing beast, where the soldiers, and if she was lucky, and generals would kill it, scare it, or if it was capable of love, drain it and put it in the love reserves.
Crystal gave them a small wave, her face a mix of worries and anxieties. They just gave emotionless nods as they approached her and one stationed themselves on either side of her, causing her to let out a small yelp as one of them accidentally brushed against her.
Crystal just rubbed her wing with one hoof, looking into her mother's eyes for any sign of doubt that she could act upon to get out of this. But none was there. Part of Crystal swelled with pride, the other half let out an angst-filled groan.
She is a teenager after all.
Centipede let out a cry of agony as he writhed against the Magic that was aimed against his stomach. He could feel his skin scorching. Bleeding. Dying.
The magic was taken away, causing him to relax against his restraints that were fixing him to the ceiling. His pants were labored as he brought up his eyes to stare into the "doctor's."
That just earned him another jolt of five hundred thousand volts. He ground his teeth so as to not give the sick physician the satisfaction of getting him to scream again.
That resolve was broken when the doctor turned up the voltage by another five hundred thousand.
When he finally stopped, Centipede was crying. Not crying out in pain, just crying. He knew that the rest of his family was going through this torture. Maybe even some of the younger lings. Great Faust, they might be dead if they were going through this. And the newborns. . .
His eyes snapped open as he heard the squeak hinges of the door to his cell open up. His mouth opened up in a silent scream. Standing before him was the one who had ordered this torture for his kind.
Celestia stood behind the doctor, her cold eyes staring at him. Her coat seemed to glow in contrast to the grey rock that surrounded them, which Centipede had learned was sound proof. Probably meaning that those ignorant ponies didn't know that they were walking on top of innocent blood.
"Has he told you were the great hive is?" Celestia asked coldly, no emotion showing in her pink eyes. Centipede felt his hatred for her grow even more. And to think he had respected her wishes before the Canterlot invasion as a monarch. She was just an actor wearing whatever mask is required to stay in command.
"No, Princess," The doctor said as he removed his blood-stained goggles, revealing grey, tired eyes. "Perhaps he really doesn't know where they are. Your highness. . . Even the most committed generals in the Equestrian army would have given in to this type of torture. Perhaps. . . We could just put him under house arrest. He might not have been a part of the invasion, so it would be foolish to keep him-"
"No," She interrupted him. Her mask finally let way to a little emotion, and it was terrifying. Her mouth turned to a sneer as she suddenly and swiftly brought up the doctor up with her magic and slammed him against the wall, he let out an outcry of pain he tried to use his hooves to grip at the magic around his neck to no avail.
"You will get the truth out of him in one week," She said getting closer to his position on the wall. He looked at her eyes with panic as he tried to gasp for breath. "Otherwise, kill the useless runt."
She dropped the doctor to the floor as she exited the room. Centipede then decided that he could forgive the doctor for everything he was doing to him, Centipede would have done the same to him if he had the crazy witch threatening him.
The doctor just laid there on the floor gasping, tears streaming down his face. After minutes, the doctor was quietly crying, not pain, but of anguish. He turned and looked at centipede's eyes, his own red from the salt water. He just muttered "I'm so sorry." over and over again.
Centipede couldn't take it. He breathed out in a hoarse voice, "I forgive you."
"She's threatening my wife," He said as he broke down again, letting out sobs as he buried his head in his hooves. "She's expecting our first child. We learned only a few weeks ago that she's a girl. That darned witch is threatening the two things that I live for!"
"Buddy," Centipede said as he let out a sigh. "Just. . . kill me. I don't know where Chrysalis is, other than the badlands, and I've told you that already."
"I can't," The doctor said as he got up, brushing off the grey dust that covered the floor, which was covered in. He let out a shaky sigh as he positioned himself in front of Centipede. "If I do, then Celestia will kill them, and I'll be on the wrong end of this whole process."
"Then I'm real sorry for what I'm about to do," Centipede said as the doctor opened his mouth to question what he meant. Centipede brought his back legs up and kicked him square on the jaw, causing the doctor to stagger back until he fell down, knocked out.
Centipede used what little strength he had left in him to bring himself up and remove the magic choking ring around his horn. He smiled as he felt his magic return to him. He removed his shackles, using a spell that he had spent weeks learning from just seeing multiple doctors use on him when moving him from room to room. He praised Faust when it actually worked.
Centipede then walked over to the doctor. Centipede was a bit hesitant to copy him, if he screwed up he could be the reason that his wife died. But it wasn't like he had another unconscious body he could copy. He quickly changed into him, uniform and all. Curiosity over taking him, Centipede lifted the hem of the coat to see what exactly his cutie mark was to know that kind of illegal magic.
It was a safety pin.
He was a kid's doctor? He was being forced to torture people when he was a children's doctor? Centipede felt himself dry heave at the thought. He just wanted this whole experience to be over.
He raced out of the dungeons.
"That is what happens in the Canterlot dungeons," Centipede ended his horrific tale, leaving Quick Clash on the verge of throwing up. "They don't think twice about killing us. That pony monarch of yours is insane! She wanted me dead!"
"But. . ." Quick tried to respond. "Celestia would never do such an evil thing. She has reigned peacefully over us for years!"
"Well, one of us is lying. Or it could be that both of us think our version of Celestia is real. I know as a fact mine is real. And you think yours is real, but you are wrong about her."
"How do I even know you're telling me the truth?! You're a changeling! You're born for deception!"
Centipede rose up on his hind legs and showed him his stomach. Past the exoskeleton on the skin was a scar, one Quick immediately recognised.
It was a sun.